Review for Dark Souls: Remastered. Game for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 25/05/2018 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 19/10/2018
“In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself in a dark forest, the straight path was lost. Ah, what a hard thing is this wild and harsh and strong forest that renews fear in thought! "
In other words: you who play leave all hope! Never a quote was more appropriate than this and the juxtaposition between Dante's Hell and Dark Souls has certainly flashed in the minds of all those who over the years have had the pleasure of venturing into this adventure. First on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, then on PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox One , today finally arrives on Nintendo Switch Dark Souls: Remastered.
Although we are sure that everyone has had the pleasure and torment given by learning about the Souls saga, we open a parenthesis to describe not only the title in question but all the genre that - in fact - this series has created. It is not easy to create a successful title and it is even less easy to create one that lays the foundations for a new genre. Although to tell the truth the progenitor was Demon's Soul, its successor Dark Souls succeeds even better in the intent of characterizing a new genre with an approach to gameplay and adventure in itself so particular and typical as to be exemplary.
The adventure we are going to face sees us in the shoes of a wandering soul in a dying and gloomy world, populated by restless and tormented creatures, who are waiting for nothing but to end our ephemeral existence. Armed with our value, our humanity and our (scarce) offensive abilities, it will be our task to awaken atavistic entities that have been dormant for centuries to reach the primordial furnace, where we can decide the fate of the world by reviving its flame or throwing everything and everyone into eternal darkness by extinguishing it altogether. But if you think that reaching the end of the adventure is a walk, you are very wrong: you will sweat and curse every deity before you see the fulfillment of your adventure.
In fact, we are talking about a tough genre, at times frustrating, difficult to master and extremely punitive: in the course of the adventure you will face, nothing can be left to chance, nothing must be underestimated and above all you will never have to face enemies with your head down. Violating these rules means going to certain death and losing all the advantages acquired from the last checkpoint: everything in Dark Souls: Remastered can kill you, a fall, an enemy - even at a basic level and maybe hidden around a corner - even a bonfire. Leveling weapons and armor (all subject to wear), being careful even when a fight seems over, studying every ravine and every enemy from safe positions are just some of the basic precautions with which the player must immediately become familiar.
Dark Souls raised the bar on the level of difficulty of video games, which had inexorably lowered over the years, effectively pushing players to a return to basics in which video games were much more punitive. Often over the years we have become accustomed to gameplay that could be easily mastered by calibrating the player's attention at low levels as the effort required to complete an adventure was considerably less than in the early days. Well, with Dark Souls forget about settable difficulty levels, equipable features that make you unbeatable or light-hearted raids for the game levels: here the gameplay is hard, stubborn, made up of moves studied at the table, quick paths, shortcuts designed and acquired after countless dead and above all a lot of technical and merciless combat.
The RPG component of Dark Souls: Remastered is a fundamental, alive and pulsating element. Each augmented feature affects the character and the course of the adventure itself, starting with the starting class you choose to face the adventure:
- The warrior: a weapons expert with high strength and dexterity;
- The Knight: has more life and a more structured and powerful armor;
- The Wanderer: character with high dexterity and with the scimitar;
- The thief: high dexterity and possessing the universal key;
- The Bandit: has high strength and wields a mighty but heavy ax;
- The hunter: suitable for close range but weak against magic;
- The Sorcerer: obviously powerful in the magical arts;
- The Pyromancer: agile, fast and gifted with the magic of fire;
- The Cleric: strong and with healing skills;
- The Discriminate: naked, unarmed but extremely agile.
In addition to physical appearance and an equipable item, the class you choose will determine your style of play. Although it is possible to considerably change a class in the course of the adventure, leveling technical characteristics that will change its style, your initial choice will influence you in the style with which you will approach the game. Choosing a strong warrior will make you powerful but slow, while choosing a fast one will allow you to dodge easier at the expense of less damage on the opponent. In the same way, choosing a sorcerer, unsuitable for hand-to-hand combat, forces you to study the territory with greater attention, which is less necessary if you prefer, for example, the bandit. Think before you spend your resources and don't say we didn't warn you!
Each tinsel has unique characteristics: they can not only be influenced by the player's statistics, but also affect their use. If you wear heavy armor, suitable for absorbing some of the damage, you will find yourself bound in your movements and your ability to dodge and roll will be inexorably slowed down. In the same way, a powerful weapon will be wielded with two hands, precluding the use of the shield, unless you have a suitable level of strength: you can also try to ignore it but you will find yourself with the protagonist who after the first blow trudges leaving the side discovered to the adversary who is waiting for nothing more to put an end to his miserable existence.
The game currency, which can be spent by rare merchants and in bonfires (sporadic save points in the game) to advance level, is made up of the souls of the enemies killed. But be careful, because if you die along the way you will lose all the accumulated souls and the only way to get them back will be to start over from the checkpoint until you reach the place of your departure: do not get nervous and anxious though, because if along the way you will not pay due attention you could leave the pens again and at that point the recovery will be definitively lost. Dark Souls is a dance with death in which any "out of time" is paid for with loss.
It should not be forgotten, however, that we are talking about a title originally released for more than five years and the one we have analyzed today is the Remastered: what has changed in practice? First of all, the graphic detail has been improved, both of the characters and of the settings: now you can enjoy 1080p graphics on the big screen and 720 in portable version, with smooth and never uncertain animations. Secondly then the frame rate has been definitively made granite, settling on 30 FPS stable even in the most excited situations, and this whether you play on your home TV or enjoy the adventure on the small screen of your Nintendo Switch.
Honorable mention to FromSoftware that not only has been able to create a title that can go through years without getting old, but that once remastered does not offer any facilitation in terms of difficulty and gameplay, leaving unchanged the pleasure and satisfaction that comes from the experience accumulated in hours of attempts. Therefore, the fear that new players could be facilitated in completing Dark Souls proves to be unfounded and we can only be pleased with it, given that much of the experience and pleasure resulting from this title revolves around a community built over the years, which shares experience and suggestions still today.
To facilitate the cooperative component we also find the multiplayer sector with dedicated servers (unfortunately not multi-platform), which allows those who play Dark Souls: Remastered to evoke the ghosts of other players to face the dangers of adventure together. The servers, not yet tested well with the total game load, have in any case withstood the test phase they were subjected to before the official release of the title without any particular problems. It is also possible to challenge other players, thanks to an automatic leveling of the statistics that occurs temporarily when the level gap is too accentuated.
Interesting and nice are the features that allow, if you play with the console online, to see the bloodstains that will allow you to know how another player died at that point or that allow you to leave warnings on hidden dangers. A lesser known gem is given by some noises, such as the ringing of bells in the distance that occurs on the occasion of certain goals achieved by other players, just like the ringing of one of the bells of awakening.
Dark Souls: Remastered for Nintendo Switch also brings DLC with it Artorias of the Abyss (as well as the versions for Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC) and has a unique exclusive feature. The version created for the newborn from Nintendo allows the use of an amiibo designed ad hoc for porting: let's talk about theamiibo from Solaire in the position of "Greeting to the Sun". The amiibo gives the player the same greeting that can be used online and the ability to summon the knight in some particular moments of the game.
Dark Souls: Remastered is a remastering of the original Souls title that created a real gaming phenomenon still alive today. Excellent work done by FromSoftware which manages to revitalize a title of now seven years ago without upsetting it and remaining faithful in terms of content and gameplay. A videogame experience that finally lands on Nintendo Switch, giving an extra feature: portability. Do not miss the purchase if for the first time you face an exponent of the Souls Series, or if you simply like to relive the days of glory and frustration.
► Dark Souls: Remastered is an Action-RPG type game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 25/05/2018 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 19/10/2018
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